This blog is a continuation from last week. It is one thing to say, “Oh, I sit meditation an hour each day” which on it’s surface is wonderful, but what about the remaining 23 hours? Are you present in each activity or are you moved around by events and circumstances.
True samadhi was characterized by the Sixth Ancestor as the most important fragrance of Buddha’s teaching. Not attaching to ideas of good or bad regarding external perceptions while also clinging to nothing at all internally allows this samadhi fragrance to manifest.
This does not imply that our senses are somehow shut down. Rather, it is about collecting our mind into a single point. In previous blogs I have defined this as “giving our mind a job.” Allowing the breath to flow easily in and out while counting exhalations is one type of “job.” The great Chinese Master Hsu Yun was gifted at expounding the sutras and was invited to many
monasteries to elucidate the dharma during his exceptionally long life of 120 years. In addition
to sutra teaching, he also strongly recommended “Pure Land” practices such as internally keeping the recitation of either the Buddha’s name “Amitofo” or that of the Bodhisattva Manjusri, who wielding his prajna (wisdom) sword encourages us to cut through mental delusions and clinging. Hua Tou is another form of giving the mind a job. Simple phrases such as “Who is it dragging this dead corpse around?” or Who is chopping vegetables right now?” can be very revealing as to the layered machinations of our habit mind. All of these “jobs” assist us in not getting lost in our mental movie while also reeling in the wandering mind back to the present moment.
The “end game” lacking a better term, is to halt our incessant mental meandering. Not giving rise to thoughts is foremost, but when thoughts appear, and they will, “do not invite them in for tea” as Thich Nhat Hanh instructs. The maze of our conditioning is extensive. Remain diligent throughout the day.
The Third Ancestor was also wonderfully clear on this point: “The great way is not difficult for those who have no preferences.” “Hold no opinions for or against anything. Doing so is the disease of the mind.”
Opposites thinking as it is referenced here is a major obstacle to mental clarity. Hsu Yun continually emphasized cutting through both clinging and opposites. Feelings of joy, sadness, attachment, and rejection, are all fleeting and temporary mind manifestations. Honor and dishonor, happiness and misery, praise and censure, all need to be seen for what they are, disarmed and then abandoned.
The practices described above are purposefully simple. Whenever we conceptualize what we are doing via intellectual constructs we inevitably end up the worse for it. Caution: Regarding the various “jobs” referenced above, find one that resonates and stick with it! Changing on a daily basis diminishes both resolve and practice energy.